Safety-elevator.



P. J. R ERS.

SAFETY ELBVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.5,1912.

Patented Sept. 17, 191;.

2 SHEETS*SHBBT l.

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|| il Il Lidl P, J. RIVERS.

SAFETY ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED IEB.5,1912,

1,038,961@e Pdtented Sept. 17,192.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lille rails, andwhih cables are adapted to be reiniciar sari; .rr-srsvsror..

lessees Specicaton of Letters latent.

latented SeptE il". lll-l2.

Application filed February, 1.912. Serial No. 675,632.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that L PHILIr J. Rivers, a citizien of the 'United States. and a residento't New Rochelle, county of lllestchester. and

State ont New York, have invented certain new and useful linprorements in Safetv-k llllevators, ol' which the following is a lull, clear, and exact description.

'llhis invention relates more particularly to automatic means for preventing an elevater car from dropping in case the supporting cable should break. 1 f

@ne of the principal objects of the invention is to provide simple and ellicient means which hev located on either or both sides oit the car and so arranged that in case the cable should break or other delect arise whereby tbe car is likely to drop suddenltlie said means4 will immediately be placed in action and edectuallv stop the car in its downward movement before the latter' has acquired any speed, thereby avoiding'all liability of injury 'to the passenger or passengers within the car.

@ther objects of the invent-ion are to provide a simple and etlicient attachment 'which may be applied to elevators as ordinarily constructed with substantially no change whatever in the construction, and to provide means which. may be located on one or more sides of the car and controlled in its action by the supporting cable to. adapt the mechanisroV to `imm'ediately be placed in action should a slack in the cable occur or the said cable break or part for any reason ivhatever.

Another object of the invention is topico vide means which is simple andv inexpensive to manufacture, which isiefective in use, and which is readily accessible for repairs .or for assembling.

A. further object olE the invention is'to provide simple and enicient means whereby one or more cables or elements may be arranged in parallel relation to thel elevator' garde gripped byv mechanism mounted on tl'leearV Ionly when slack occurs in the cable or the cable breaks.

eo wat aas@ mi oder @sjaals View, the

invention will be hereinafter ignore particularly .described with vreference to' the accornpanying drawings, :which torni a part of this speciiication, and will then be pointed out llo in Ithe claims at the end of the description.

la the drawings, Figure 1 is a iront elevat-ion showing` an elevator with one iorin of my invention applied thereto. Fig. Q is a side elevation of the car, showing the invention applied thereto. Fig. 3 is a plan View. Fig. Il is an enlarged liront elevation, partly in section7 only a sino-ll part of the car being' shown. 1 Fig. 5 is a vertical secl'ion taken on the line V-V ot Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a sectional plan View through the casing taken on the line Vl Vl of'lig. 5; and Fig. I is a detail perspective view of one of the brackets. f

The car or cage 10 may be provided with gnides 11 along its vertical sides which are adapted to span or engage'the-rails 12, and supporting the car are one or more cables 13 by which the car may be raised or lowered along the rails 12in the usual way. A plurality or" short brackets or guides 14 are secured to two of the sides vof the car adjacent to the guides 11, and adapted to move vertically between each pair of brach:- ets 14C is a casing 15., l rl`his casing 15 is sub stantially box-like in form and may be closed by a detachable cover 16 4so as to adapt the inner part of the casing to be accessible. Passing through the casing is a stationary cable or element 17 which is securely held at its ends and extends the entire distance the car is adapted to travel and is of sufficient strength to bear the weight of the car in case the supporting cable or cables lshould break or part. As shown there are two cables 17 and two casings`15 and mechanisms cooperating with the cables `which are located on two of the opposite sides of the car adjacent to the rails l2, but it will be understood thatl this mechanism as well as the cables or similar means may be variously located and 'only one mechanisin and .cable or like means employed. As the two mechanisms are similarly constructed, a description of one will answer l'or the other.; `l

' 'lhevpcasing l15 is open at the lower portion thereof for a part of its length and is provided with an opening at the upper portion thereof through 'which the cable 17 or gripping device extends .to adapt the casing to move freely alongsald cable` during the normalworking of the car. andsupported within the casing are two gripping elements or devices 18 and 19. These devices 18 and 19 are opposed to each other and are ot disk-'like form. The devices 18 and 19 are .eccentrically pivotedyto pins which are lillti lll) lcarried by a bracket 21. This bracket 21 may be secured to the casin or may be independent thereof, and sai bracket has a 'backing or part 22with over-hanging hook-A shaped portions 23 formingmeans to properly support the'pins or studs 2O, the latter being connected on oneside by .a link or tie I S-shaped in form, and at the element 24 serving as a means to strengthen the hook-shaped portions 23 and hold 'the y studs in their proper position. The eccentric disks or devices 18 and 19"'each have agripping portion 25 which is substantially ipping p0rtion the said part is larger t an'the body of the devices -18 and 19 to partly span the'V These devices 18-A and 19 .are norcable 17 mally held in a position to permit free movement of the car without said devices engaging the cable 17, but when released, as will be hereinafter described, the said gripping S1117-,

faces 25 will be forced against the cable from opposite sides. This will force a part of the cable toward one of the devices and another part toward the opposite `device to forma kink or irregular part in the cable when the' devices grip the same, and owing to the eccentric action of the devices when caused to grip the cable, any downward movement of the car will only tend to increase the gripping effect, though as `an additional means to assist in gripping thecable 17 or other element, the parts 25 may be provided with teeth or serrations to better engage said' cable.

VA pair of links 26 are pivoted at 27 .at one end to the gripping device 19 and on opposite sides thereof, and at their opposite ends are pivoted at 28 to a projecting portion or lng 29 of a bracket 30. The

bracket 30 is securely held to the bottom or base 31 vof the car vand has a part or lug portion32 similar to the part 29 extending yupwardly therefrom to which is pivoted, at

33, a pair of-links 34. The links 34are similar to the ylinks 26 andextend on oppo- 'v site sides of the eccentric disk or device 18 and are pivoted thereto at 35. The links 26 and 34 extend vertically and are angularly arranged with respect to each other and have their pivots`27 and 35 located at a distance from the pivots of the eccentric devices 18 and 19, the said devices each being normally forced to engaging position by a spring 36, one end of which is attachedto a lug 37 on the disk or gripping device, and the other end to a lug 38 on the casing 15.

It will be evident that when the casing 15 is forced downward along its guides or brackets 14, thelinks 26 and 34 will force the gripping surfaces 25 of the grippingdisks or devices 18 away 'from the cable, thus permitting the car and the casing to move freely along the cable or element 17, but as soon as the casing isl released, the

springs 36 will immediately force the de.

vices 18 and 19 into engagement with the cable 17, thus locking the casing and cable together, and` -owing to the connection throughthe bracket 29, the car will be immediately stopped and prevented from fur- 'ther movement until the.. devices are again released.l The casing 15 as weil 'as the `gripping Adevices 18 and 19 are supported by the links 26 and 84 which are so' ositioned that when the 'casing is forced ownward, the springs 36 will be extended in order that when the casing is released, the said springs will quickly 'force the gripping devices 18 and 19,011l their pivots 20 to cause the surfaces 25 to engage the cable 17 To normally holdl t'he gripping devices 18 and 19 disengaged from the cable 17, various means may be employed. As shown, a lever 39 is pivoted at 40 on opposite sides of the car adjacent to'its coperating casing 15 and free of the movement of the cable or element 17. Each lever 39 has an end 4l whichy is adapted to bear upon a plate Vor part 42 -of the car and has its other end 43 connected to a cable vor flexible connection 44.- The connection 44 is secured at its opposite end under tension to a clip or brace 45 andf'in such a way that the lever 39 isv normally moved on its pivot to force the C casing 15 downward as shown in Fig. 2. This forcing of the casing downward `will cause the devices 18 and 19 on their pivots to release the engaging surfaces .25 from .engagementwith the cable 17 and in case the cables 13 should break or partyor slack occur for any reason whatever to remove all tension on the connection 44, the springs 36 will immediately force or restore the devices 18 and 19.to their gripping position, which,

may be readily made andassembled and isl not expensive to manufacture; that ,said means is so constructed'and arranged that Vthe greater the tendency of .the elevator car to drop and the greater the weight applied thereto, the greater will be the gripping effect of the safety means; and that said means is automatic in its action.

Having thus described *my invention, I

the links to moveclaim as new and desire t-o secure by Letters Patent 4 1. .The combination of a support, a bracket carried by said support, a stationary element arranged and pivotally adapted to be gripped, eccentrically held and opposed gripping devices having substantially S-shaped gripping surfaces land opposed to each other, links connectingA the gripping devicesto the support, springs for forcing the gripping devices into gripping position, and means for forcing the gripping devices in the opposite direction to disen-l gage thesame from the gripped element.

2. The combination of a support, a stationar-y element adapted to be gripped, gripping devices opposed to each other and having substantially S-shaped gripping sur* faces, means connecting the gripping ldevices' to the support, means for forcing the gripping devices into gripping position, and means for forcing the gripping devices in the opposite direction to disengage t-he same from said stationary element. l

3. The combination of a stationary element adapted to be gripped, eccentrically 'held and opposed gripping devices having substantially S- shaped gripping surfaces, springs for for@ ing thegripping devices into gripping position, and means for forcing the gripping devices in the opposite direction. f 4. The combination of a casing, a bracket Copines means to the movable support, and means for moving the casing relatively to the movable support to force the gripping means to a disengaged position.

5. The combination of a casing, a bracket free to move in said casing, two disk-1ile devices pivotally having opposed grippingy means, means adapted to be engaged by said gripping means, a movable support, means connecting the gripping devices to the movable support, and means for moving the casing relatively to the movable support to force the gripping devices to a.y disengaged posiv tion.

This specification -signed and witnessed this second-day of February, A. D. 1912.

` PHILIP J.,RI VERS. Vitnesses FRANCS KINREICH, C. BARTELS.

of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

held in said bracket andl 

